Nate (The Rock Creek Six) by Handeland Lori

Author:Handeland, Lori [Handeland, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-08T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

After his argument with Jo, Nate began to dodge her. The things he'd begun to feel whenever she was near were dangerous for them both.

But after a week of avoiding her, he started to believe she was avoiding him. He saw Jo rarely, and not if she saw him first. He couldn't count the number of times he caught a glimpse of her ducking into a building just ahead of him.

Arguing over God had been foolish. The truth would come out eventually, and what harm could there be for folks to believe there was a better place ahead? The one right here and now certainly held little appeal.

Unlike his friends, Nate had no gainful employment. Even Cash spent most of his time in Rock Creek tinkering with Rogue's Palace. Nothing laborious. Cash did not believe in breaking a sweat for anyone, not even himself. Nate could have given him a hand, but he figured it was best to stay clear of saloons.

He'd resolved to keep from drinking as long as he could. It was foolish to try and please Jo when she wasn't even around to notice, but Nate hadn't been anything but foolish for quite a long time now.

He went nights without rest, then slept like a dead man all day. He was able to keep from thinking of Angela by thinking of Jo instead. Which only made him lonelier than he'd been since his wife died.

For lack of something better to do, and because the exercise seemed to keep his mind off the whiskey and tire him enough to sleep, Nate walked the streets of Rock Creek. The folks treated him like royalty. He'd never really noticed that they ignored him before. Or at least he thought they had. He could count on his fingers the number of times he'd ventured into town during the day.

After a week of handshakes and back slaps, Nate kind of missed being ignored. He didn't feel he'd done anything special, but no one else seemed to agree.

In fact, when he'd mentioned to Reese that he'd been scared half to death at the time, some hero, Reese had merely shaken his head and said, "Courage is measured in the amount of fear a man ignores to do what he must, not in the lack of fear he feels in the first place."

When put like that, Nate figured he was brave enough to be a general in the next war.

One afternoon, Nate went to the river. He'd taken to sitting there whenever the craving for a drink became too strong. The wind whistling through the trees, the water gurgling over the rocks, the sun burning on his back made him forget for a few seconds at a time that there was no whiskey to be had this far from town.

He hadn't been out of Rock Creek five minutes when a shuffle turned his attention from a bobbing leaf to the sight of Carrie Salvatore sliding down the river bank.

"Are you supposed to be down here alone?"

"I'm not alone.

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